The Reluctant Babysitter
by WizardsGirl
Summary: Little Alexander Harris knew all about the monsters outside, but, sometimes, those monsters were better than the ones waiting for him at home. DRABBLE-FIC! Like A Dash of Salt, only BtVS!Style. Rated T, for: Demons, potty-mouths, Child Abuse, random things, Safety, and the unavoidable deaths of Kittens... Xander!Centric. Please R&R! PROMPTS ACCEPTED!


**_Title: _**The Reluctant Babysitter

**_A/N:_** Sorry about this new fic, but I read some Spander fics and this idea popped into my head, and now I'm going with it.

Will be a Drabble-fic, like **_A Dash of Salt_**, each chapter being at a different time and different scene.

Hope you all enjoy!

_**Summary:** Little Alexander Harris knew all about the monsters outside, but, sometimes, those monsters were better than the ones waiting for him at home._

Alexander Harris was six years old, but his chocolate-colored eyes would always be older, no matter how much he smiled. The reason for this fact could be heard almost nightly all the way down the block, the echoes of a man and woman screaming at each other, the sound of broken glass as something was thrown through yet another window (rarer now, since most of those windows were covered in cardboard,), all of it pouring out of the Harris House at all hours of the night. Little Lexi (as his mother called him from time to time, when she remembered his name, of course) had learned early on that nights were better spent out of the house, as far away from his Mom and Dad as he could get.

It was because of this that he knew about _Them_.

_They_ lived under the street, in the sewers, and slept all day... Or, at least, that's what Lexi thought, as he had only ever seen them coming out at night, gold eyes glowing and strange faces that changed from normal to _weird_. He wasn't sure he liked them, but they ignored him so he did his best to do the same. The one time one had looked at him, brown eyes shifting to that pretty, glowing gold, the man-monster had said something about him being a Snack-Pack, and how he wanted a _real_ meal, not a nibble. He'd left after that, and Lexi had quickly made his way away from the large pothole that led into the sewers depths.

It was because he knew about _Them_ that he started noticing the others. The monsters with horns, scales, feathers, more than one head, or even just a moving pile of _goo_. They were all over, everywhere, and he had seen a few _kill people_ so he had stayed as far away from them as he could. He usually went to the park, crawled inside the small play-tunnel, and slept for a while.

Tonight, however, he hadn't gotten outside fast enough, and was sporting a painfully-pulsing black eye, the bruised flesh just beginning to swell, and he was hurrying down the street, glancing back fearfully every few minutes to make sure his Dad wasn't following him. It was because he wasn't paying attention that they met–well, more like they _collided_.

"Oomph!" Was all Lexi could say, the wind knocked out of him as he fell back on his bottom, looking up, wide-eyed, at the man that stood in front of him, blinking watery red eyes. Boy and Monster stared at each other, taking the other in curiously. The Monster was very wrinkly, Lexi noticed. His skin fell in folds all over, some pinning the edges of his shirt or pants under said rolls. His eyes were large and all red, a little watery but not like he was sad, and his ears stuck out to the sides, pointed and curved strangely. All together, the little boy was given the impression of a wrinkly, pinkish colored puppy, and found himself not very worried as he scrambled to his feet.

"I'm sorry, mister," Lexi told him, good eye wide while his other eye just unsquinted a bit. The Monster frowned.

"What are you doing out this late?" He asked; Lexi blinked and pointed at his eye.

"Dad's mad again," he said simply, shrugging. "He's always mad, so I stay outside at night lots of times..." He frowned, peering up at the Monster warily. "You're not gonna eat me, are you mister? 'Cause, this gold-eye monster guy said that I'm a pudding pack and wouldn't be a good meal. You know, I'm all skinny and not yummy at all, so you shouldn't eat me. You might get ind... indy... indyjesting!" He looked pleased; the Monster snorted.

"You me _indigestion_, whelp," he corrected, amused; Lexi bobbed his head rapidly, pointing a finger at him.

"Yeah! That! So, are you?" He asked, staring up at the Monster with those old-yet-innocent eyes, a strange combination. The Monster shook his head, wrinkles shivering with the movement.

"Don't eat whelps like you," he told Lexi. "I like delicious little kittens better." Lexi stared at him, good eye wide, mouth gaping a little.

"You eat _kitties_?" He asked; the Monster nodded.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it, whelp," was the monster's reply. Lexi frowned and crossed his arms, huffing.

"My name's not whelp!" He complained. "I'm _Alexander_, or Lexi, which is what my Mom calls me, but only every once in a while, mostly she doesn't call me anything, but that's okay because I don't mind!" He babbled out happily; the Monster stared at him.

"Got some lings on you, don't you, whelp?" He mused. "Well, Lexi, I'm Clem." Lexi beamed up at the monster, irritation forgotten, and bounced around a bit.

"Hi, Clem!" He greeted happily; Clem snorted again, a wry smile curling his lips. "Hey, hey, Clem, hey, do you wanna play with me?" The little boy asked eagerly; Clem eyed him, amused.

"Can't play, gotta go to a poker game." He held up a picnic basket Lexi hadn't noticed before, and shook it slightly, making its contents start mewling and meowing loudly. Lexi had huge eyes.

"Can I come?" He asked hopefully; Clem hesitated, staring down at him with a frown, so Lexi quickly started talking. "I promise I won't get in the way or anything, I'll be really, really good, and I'll make sure the kitties don't try and run away, but how do you play poker with kitties anyways? And how do you _eat_ them? Do you cook them or do you eat them alive? Wouldn't that hurt? Do they try and steal your tongue, is that why you eat them? Hey, hey, Clem, hey! Where you goin'?" The little boy ran after the monster, and began padding along beside him like a little puppy, earning a sigh from the monster.

"Look, kid," he tried to explain, pausing and making the mistake of looking at the boy's face. Despite one of his eyes being swollen shut, he still managed a disturbingly affective puppy-dog look, brown eye huge and pleading, lips wobbling a bit, and Clem could just picture a set of drooping puppy ears sticking out of his wavy dark-brown locks. The demon groaned, grimacing. _That's just not __**fair**_, he groused to himself, before giving a defeated sigh and offering his hand.

"Come on, whelp," he said, resigned; Lexi cheered, latching onto his hand and happily skipping alongside the monster. All Clem could do was wonder how in the Hell he'd been volunteered as a babysitter...

**A/N:** Depressing, really, how short this is, but I'll have more up and coming. Patience, please!

And Reviews.

Those are a must.

**R&R!**


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